How to Limit Sugar on Halloween
As an integrative pediatrician, I always recommend finding ways to limit sugar on Halloween—but despite that advice, Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays! When I was in elementary school in Avon Lake, Ohio, around 1980, we had a big Halloween costume contest every year. One year, I decided I was going to […]
How to Take a Probiotic When on an Antibiotic
Knowing how to take a probiotic when on an antibiotic can be especially helpful during the colder months, when kids spend more time indoors and antibiotic prescriptions tend to increase. A study evaluating outpatient antibiotic prescriptions found that prescriptions were about 25% higher in winter than in summer. [1] Antibiotics save millions of lives each […]
Cold, Flu vs. Allergies in Kids: How to Tell the Difference
By late September, school is in full swing. Coughs, sniffles, and runny noses are making their way through classrooms, but knowing the difference between a cold, flu vs. allergies can help you decide when your child should stay home and what to do next. Many childhood illnesses share symptoms, and sometimes testing or an exam […]
Fall Allergies in Kids: Natural Ways to Reduce Symptoms
Fall allergies can be just as troublesome for kids as the ones that come in spring. Let’s talk about allergy triggers and how to relieve them.
Healthy Daycare Habits for Back-to-School: 3 Simple Tips
Back-to-school season is here, and healthy daycare habits become more important as families settle back into daycare routines. Lunches are being packed, drop-offs feel rushed again, and kids are adjusting to earlier mornings, new classrooms, shared toys, and more close contact with other children. If your child attends daycare, you already know what often comes […]
Childhood Eczema Rates Are Climbing: What Parents Should Know
This month marks the one-year anniversary of my TEDx talk, “Why Childhood Eczema Rates Are a Universal Alarm.” When I first prepared for that talk, I knew I wanted to speak about eczema. But not just eczema as an itchy skin condition. I wanted to talk about eczema as a signal. A signal that children’s […]
Back-to-school Checklist: Start the School Year Strong
Summer is nearly over, and it’s time to start getting your back-to-school checklist together. For some families, that means sending a child off to college. For others, it means getting ready for elementary school, middle school, or high school. Regardless of what year of school your child is beginning, now is the perfect time to […]
Foodborne Illness Prevention: Simple Ways To Protect Your Family
Foodborne illness prevention becomes especially important during the summer months. By late July, most of us have been to a cookout, picnic, pool party, or summer gathering where the food table looked a little questionable. (Think potato salad sitting in the sun.) Everyone is grazing over the course of a few hours, and nobody is […]
Simple Healthy Fourth of July Food Swaps for Families
There’s nothing more American than grilling outside on the Fourth of July, and healthy Fourth of July food swaps can make your celebration both fun and nourishing. And let’s be honest… having a hot dog at a cookout is basically part of the celebration. 😉 But one thing I always encourage families to think about […]
Microbiome Health for Kids: Playing in the Dirt and Immunity
When we think about microbiome health for kids and immune system support, we often focus on nutrition, vitamin intake, nutrient-dense foods, quality sleep, and regular physical activity. But one important piece of microbiome health for kids that often gets overlooked is simple exposure to the natural world. I love these pictures of Lauren’s daughter, Sylvie, […]
